{"id":10070,"date":"2007-09-13T13:15:29","date_gmt":"2007-09-13T18:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=10070"},"modified":"2011-08-08T14:06:53","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T19:06:53","slug":"5823","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2007\/09\/13\/5823\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer Vigil to Protest Treatment of Six Students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO, IL (September 13, 2007) \u2013 A prayer vigil will be conducted  next Wednesday evening (September 19) in downtown Chicago in support of  what is known in the media as the \u201cJena Six\u201d \u2013 six African American high  school students in Jena, Louisiana, who face lengthy prison sentences  stemming from a high school altercation.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The vigil will begin at 7 p.m. at Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington Street.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-10179\" title=\"Jena-walk\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2007\/09\/Jena-walk.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"380\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2007\/09\/Jena-walk.jpg 380w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2007\/09\/Jena-walk-300x230.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px\" \/>Jena,  located in LaSalle Parish, is a community with a population of  approximately 3,000, including 350 African-Americans. LaSalle Parish has  a population of about 14,000 people, of which about 12 percent are  African-Americans.<\/p>\n<p>The trouble began when an African-American  student asked permission from school administrators to sit under what  some call the \u201cwhite tree,\u201d says Debbie Blue, executive minister of the  Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice of the Evangelical Covenant  Church.<\/p>\n<p>Permission was granted, Blue says, and the next day three  nooses were hung from the tree, a tree symbolically labeled \u201cfor white  students only.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The principal recommended expulsion for the three  white students responsible, but the superintendent of schools overruled  the expulsion and gave the students a three-day suspension for \u201can  adolescent prank,\u201d news sources reported.<\/p>\n<p>Over the next several  weeks, African-American students organized a sit-in under the tree and  were reportedly threatened by the district attorney. The school was put  on a lockdown and a still unresolved fired burned down the main academic  building.<\/p>\n<p>Racial tensions mounted. Reports stated a black  student was beat up at a party by whites, and a white student was beaten  by black students. Six African-American Jena students were charged with  attempted second-degree murder and expelled from school, with bail  ranging from $70,000 &#8211; $138,000.<\/p>\n<p>On September 20, a judge will  determine if one of the six youths will be sentenced to serve 22 years  in prison &#8211; that student was convicted of aggravated battery. The other  five, ranging in age from 15 to 17, also face prison sentences if  convicted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a situation that has been extremely troubling  as one considers the facts and the injustices inflicted on the  accused,\u201d Blue says. \u201cVery little has been in news stories &#8211; surely not  enough given the gravity of the situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis tragic story is  another piece of clear evidence that racism continues in this country,  and that the sense of fairness for all is not, in fact, across-the-board  in its application,\u201d Blue says of the Jena situation. \u201cI am incensed.  We as Christians need to step up and speak out. I encourage concerned  Christians to support this prayer vigil, and I hope to see many of our  Covenant family join in this effort Wednesday evening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To read a recent Associated press story on this case, please see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/feeds\/ap\/2007\/09\/11\/ap4105303.html\" target=\"_blank\">Jena Six<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=10070&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO, IL (September 13, 2007) \u2013 A prayer vigil will be conducted next Wednesday evening (September 19) in downtown Chicago in support of what is known in the media as the \u201cJena Six\u201d \u2013 six African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, who face lengthy prison sentences stemming from a high school altercation. Report [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Prayer Vigil to Protest Treatment of Six Students - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2007\/09\/13\/5823\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prayer Vigil to Protest Treatment of Six Students - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CHICAGO, IL (September 13, 2007) \u2013 A prayer vigil will be conducted next Wednesday evening (September 19) in downtown Chicago in support of what is known in the media as the \u201cJena Six\u201d \u2013 six African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, who face lengthy prison sentences stemming from a high school altercation. 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